Mike Prunetti, longtime NYRA employee, dies at 77

Mike Prunetti, who worked in many capacities as an official at the New York Racing Association over four decades, died Friday due to the effects of pulmonary fibrosis, according to former NYRA racing secretary Bruce Lombardi.

Prunetti, a resident of Boca Raton, Fla., was 77.

Prunetti, a native of Trenton, N.J., worked at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky and The Jockey Club and had served four years in the Air Force before joining NYRA in 1971. He was hired as an entry clerk and later worked as a claims clerk, placing judge, and timer before being named backup assistant racing secretary in 1979. In 1987, he was named assistant racing secretary by Lombardi.

“We became very close friends, he was in my wedding party, he’s the godfather to my daughter,” Lombardi said Saturday afternoon. “He was very methodical. He did a very good job.”

After leaving the racing office, Prunetti, wanting to stay in the game, worked in the test barn at NYRA tracks. He retired in 2011 or 2012, according to Lombardi.

“He was a fan of horses, he loved the game, he loved the big races, he loved the big horses,” veteran New York trainer Robert Ribaudo said.

Longtime NYRA race caller John Imbriale told the NYRA publicity department Prunetti was “as conscientious as any employee I’ve ever worked with, a man always willing to help with a calm and easygoing way.”

Prunetti was to be cremated. Services were to be held at a later date.